Social Influence Flashcards
What is Asch’s baseline procedure of conformity
-a line judgement task where he placed 1 participant in a room with 7 confederates who had decided on a wrong answer.
- They were given 3 lines labelled A,B,C that matched a line labelled X
-One was clearly the same length as X
-On average participants agreed with confederates around 35%
What were the 3 variables investigated by Asch
Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty
Describe Group size in variables effecting conformity
Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates
-Conformity increased with group but only up to a point
-When the majority was greater than 3 conformity levelled off
-one or two confeds were enough to sway people
Describe Unanimity in variables effecting conformity
Asch added a non conforming confederate who gave a different (but wrong) answer
-The participant conformed less in the presence of this confederate
Describe Task difficulty in variables effect
Asch increased difficulty by making stimulus lines and comparison lines more similar
-Conformity increased as it was less clear what answer was right
-An example of informational social influence
What is one strength of Asch’s conformity study
Replicable, standardised procedure
Give 2 limitations of Asch’s study
Ethical issues, deception - participants thought confederates were also participants
demand characteristics - they knew they were part of a study
What are the 3 types of conformity
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
What is Internalisation in types of conformity
Accepts group norms and changes behaviour in public and private (permanent change)
What is Identification in types of conformity
Publicly changing behaviour/ opinions to identify with a group we value but privately not believing in it
What is Compliance in types of conformity
Results in only a superficial change in behaviour/ opinions publicly due to group pressure but privately not changing
-When the pressure goes so does the behaviour
What are the 2 explanations for conformity
Informational social influence
Normative social influence
What is Informational social influence in explanations for conformity
We accept the opinion of the majority because are uncertain of what’s right and want to be correct
What is Normative social influence in explanations for conformity
We conform to social norms of the majority for social approval
What is a strength of Normative social influence
Asch study (unanimity) shows people will conform despite the truth just because its the majority
What is a strength of Informational social influence
Asch study (Task difficulty) shows if people are unsure of the correct answer they are more likely to conform
What was Zimbardo’s study of conformity to social roles?
-He converted a basement of Stanford university into a mock prison and the men were randomly assigned either a prisoner or guard
-They were each given uniform and the prisoners were identified as numbers
- The guards quickly became brutal and the prisoners rebelled
-The guards carried on harassing the prisoners to remind them their powerless
-and soon the prisoners got depressed, the brutality got too much so Zimbardo ended the study
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s study
high internal validity- control over the variables, meaning we can be confident in drawing conclusions about behaviour from the study (e.g. Random sampling)
What are 2 limitations of Zimbardo’s study
Ethical issues (Protection from harm) people developed depression due to it and some even left with psychological issues
(Beta bias) It was tested on all males who tend to be more aggressive
What was Milgram’s Study of Obedience?
He tested men from Yale university to understand why the Germans obeyed Hitler
- Participant was the teacher, Confederate was the learner and another Confederate was the experimenter
-The teacher had to give an electric shock every time the learner make a mistake
-The shocks increased with each mistake 15-450 volts
-Every participant delivered all shocks up to 300v
-65% carried on up to 450v
What is a strength of Milgram’s study of obedience?
Replications - in a French documentary, people had to give electric shocks to others. 80% gave maximum. Behaviour was similar. Supports original conclusions.